Monday, October 6, 2014

I was not going to post today because I am actually having some pain in my elbow. I think I have tennis elbow (yes, self-diagnosis), because I have all the symptoms that point to it being tennis elbow. This is the 2nd flare up I have had in the last few months so I am trying to rest my arm and keep heat/ice on it today. I know, however, if I skip more than a few days it will only make it harder to blog again :). I wanted to say "THANKS" to those who prayed about Samuel's grades. Thursday afternoon his science teacher emailed and said that the grade actually rounded up to a "D" instead of an "F". Not that having a "D" is good, but we can recover easier with that grade. We spent Thursday night studying like crazy for the science test on Friday. He hasn't gotten his grade back, but when I picked the kids up from school Friday Samuel felt confidant that he did well. He said, "Mom, I was taking that science test and I thought, 'Wow! I know the answers'." He said there was only one question he wasn't sure about.

Friday night a cold front moved into the city so we had to spend some time digging out warmer clothes. The kids and I also made our first ever batch of strawberry jelly. The jelly did not thicken up like it was supposed to, but it tastes really good. I think there were too many hands "helping" with the recipe and the measurements were a little off because Emma kept eating the strawberries.  Saturday morning Samuel had his first track meet. It was only a practice but I was glad they were having it to get him ready for the official meet next week. We bundled everyone up and headed to the track at 8:00 Saturday morning. The 5th and 6th graders would be running at 8:30. We get to the park and we see all these different schools and their coaches but do not see either of our school's coaches. We also do not see any other students from our school. Jeremy and I were getting upset and Samuel was getting nervous. It was 8:27 and the coaches still had not shown up. We were about to leave because the kids were lining up at the start line. As we were walking away we see 3 other 5th graders from our school who are also not sure what to do and looking for their coach. At the last minute the four students jumped in line and ran the mile. Unfortunately, because there was not a coach their results were not recorded at all. The coaches got a not so nice email from Jeremy. After the meet we grabbed some breakfast and then headed to Chloe's soccer game. The real feel by the lake was 30 degrees! It was so cold! After the game we came home and tried to get warm from our crazy, cold morning. We actually had our first fire in the fireplace this season.

I have been trying a lot of new recipes the last few weeks, My kids love macaroni and cheese but Jeremy and I do not necessarily like a heaping serving of mac and cheese. I found this easy and yummy recipe. I actually just used a box of Kraft mac and cheese instead of the individual items to make the macaroni.

Mac and cheese bites  (found on this site)

Time: 20-25 min.
Level: Medium
Servings: 48 mini macs

1/2 lb. elbow macaroni
1 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for brushing
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. milk
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 c. deli-sliced American cheese, chopped
1  egg yolk
1/4 tsp. paprika

Preheat the oven to 425°. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the macaroni about 5 minutes. Drain pasta. Spray mini muffin tins with non-stick spray. Sprinkle muffin cups with 2 tbsp. of the Parmesan.  In a large saucepan, melt butter. Whisk in  flour over medium heat for 2 minutes. Whisk in milk and cook, whisking constantly, until boiling, about 5 minutes. Add cheddar and American cheeses and whisk until melted. Take the saucepan off the heat and whisk in the egg yolk and paprika. Fold in the drained macaroni.